Flamencofan -> RE: Ever bought a guitar through this site? (Apr. 28 2010 14:08:04)
|
No worries, fellas. I'm not a shill for that company. I'm just a classical/flamenco hobbyist with enough time on his hands to do a lot of research on interesting guitars, and sufficient resources to buy one now and then when I find a really good deal. I'm also not much of a joiner, and would likely never have signed up for the foro if I hadn't stumbled across the good doctor's query about the website in question while I was researching it myself before I actually placed my order. When it turned out to be the most favorably memorable purchase I'd ever made, I had to share it with those of you who might be interested. That said, I am most favorably impressed with what I have read on the foro so far, and it seems to be far and away the best forum of its kind. Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome. For your info, there is another Spanish guitar website, guitars.com.es, that also has low prices, but they can vary quite a bit either way from ****.com. Some prices for the same guitar are lower on the former and higher on the latter, and vice versa: For example, the price of a Burguet 2F is $400 lower at MSG, but the price of a Ramirez FL2 is $600 higher. The shipping rates are similar, but guitars.com.es only accepts direct bank transfers from the US, whereas MSG accepts credit/debit card payment through PayPal, which made my transaction a lot more comfortable for me. They both have a 7-day return policy for a full refund, less shipping, and they also both have a two-year warranty on everything they sell. Since the latter requires that the buyer pay shipping to and from Spain, it would be of little or no use for a less expensive guitar, but it's certainly no worse than the typical runaround one gets from a typical retailer such as Guitar Center for warranty work after a sale. Over the last few years I've been reading foro members advice and opinions about various flamenco guitars, which has been very helpful to me. I've experienced several different guitars myself, so here are a few observations of my own on the subject: Manuel Rodriguez guitars don't seem to be very highly regarded on the forum. I've checked out a few of them over the years and found them to be about as good as any factory-made guitars, and better than most. But over the last couple of years their previously consistent standard of quality appears to have taken a dive. The FF Flamenco struck me as a nice guitar, but it seemed more like just a yellow classical guitar than a flamenco. I found the highly rated Alhambra 7fc to be a good guitar, but a bit heavy, and rather pedestrian all around. Nothing there that really grabbed me at all. I've checked out several Ramirez FL2's. Good-looking, good-sounding guitars of apparently good quality. Good sound, decent volume. But for $3,000 I would expect to conjure up adjectives slightly more pungent than "good" and "decent." The Raimundo 145 is a very good guitar. Mine is a 1995 model in near mint condition. Beautiful woods throughout. It has a defined, crisp and nasal tone with good volume. Nice and light. A genuine flamenco for a reasonable price. Came across a Lucida Picado once after having read numerous rave reviews. It's a good, inexpensive flamenco guitar to buy if you can find a used one. Or you could spend a few bucks more for the new model of it's clone, the Prudencio Saez 22, which is probably about as good an all-solid-woods flamenco as there is for the price. The Prudencio Saez G-36 looks and sounds fabulous; beautiful woods, great, rich flamenco tone and excellent volume. It's slightly heavier than some flamencos but it feels marvelous and plays like a dream. About as good as it gets for the money ($1,500), with the exception of............. the Amalio Burguet 2F. I'm no expert by any stretch, but I can't imagine any guitar that looks and sounds better than this baby. I considered the 1F, which is supposed to have a somewhat better quality of woods and slightly better sound, but I just couldn''t hear it. Also, the more elaborate purfling on the 1F seemed a bit much for my taste. By contrast the 2F is an example of elegant simplicity. (The tuners, for example, are of very good quality, but they're downright Spartan compared with most others). The 2F is light as a feather but it's physically almost identical to the FL2 except for the headstock and the rosette, and the body dimensions match right down to the millimeter. But to play and hear them is to really discern the differences. The 2F plays as smooth as butter and has a louder, richer flamenco sound. Sounds like a concert flamenco to my ears. I tried some cheaper flamenco guitars years ago, but resisted the urge to buy one. The Manuel Rodriguez C3F with laminated Sycamore back and sides actually might have a better flamenco sound than the FF, but at a price of $500 it makes more sense to pay a little more for a decent flamenco with all solid woods. If you must have something very inexpensive and don't want to wait for something like a used Lucida Picado or Prudencio Saez 22 to come along, get yourself a Yamaha CG171SF with laminated Cypress back and sides for around $350. Their quality is consistently good and for the price they probably can't be beat. Sorry to be so long-winded. Good luck.
|
|
|
|